You’ll Never Guess Who BMW Is Working With on Its New Concept Car
BMW debuted its new Vision M Next concept sports car at BMW’s new tech conference, the BMW Group #NEXTGen. At first, BMW was still gauging buyer interest, but it seems like it got the answer we’ve all been hoping for and are officially building this futuristic all-electric vehicle.
Somewhat reminiscent of the M1 and i8, BMW has even launched a website for its new next-generation supercar, where users can digitally interact with the Vision M Next in four distinct ways: through 3-dimensional printing of a scale model, wallpaper, a sound file, and a poster.
The sound file is where things get interesting, though, because of the person that BMW chose to collaborate with — the same person who will be engineering a special sound for the currently noiseless Vision M Next — Hans Zimmer.
Who is Hans Zimmer?
According to his biography page on his own website, Hans Zimmer is a German-born composer who is “recognized as one of Hollywood’s most innovative musical talents.”
He got his musical start as a member of the pop group The Buggles. The group’s single “Video Killed the Radio Star” was a worldwide hit, thanks in part to MTV, where it was the first music video to ever be aired.
Zimmer began making film music in London while collaborating with famed composer and mentor Stanley Myers. The two made the scores for more than one film together before Zimmer started work on several successful solo projects.
During these years, Zimmer experimented with the combination of old and new musical technologies. He found incredible success with this combination. The composer has even written the scores for many Best Picture winners, including Rain Man, Driving Miss Daisy, and The Lion King.
Why did BMW choose to collaborate with Hans Zimmer?
It actually makes a lot of sense that BMW, in piloting its new Vision M Next car, would team up with Zimmer, the front-runner of combining old and new musical technologies.
Zimmer’s futuristic styles and sounds match perfectly with BMW’s “vision car” — a car that focuses on the old-school pleasures of driving and the experience of the driver, whilst making that experience as seamlessly futuristic as possible.
As our friends at The Verge state, “BMW is leaning into that science fiction feel with this car.” The design profile of the Vision M Next isn’t even where that feeling ends. Apparently, the Vision M Next can reach 62 mph in three seconds, with an alleged top speed of 186 miles per hour.
Why is Hans Zimmer developing a sound for the BMW Vision M Next?
Electric vehicles like the Vision M Next have engines so quiet it produces little to no sound on its own. Whether to alert pedestrians that a car is approaching or for the driver, who is familiar with the powerful whirring of an engine, BMW decided to add its own sound profile to this otherworldly vehicle.
Hans Zimmer, who worked in collaboration with BMW’s sound designer Renzo Vitale, produced a sound for the car that — one might have guessed — feels right out of a film.
It doesn’t hurt that the car itself looks like something out of a science-fiction or cyberpunk film or music video. Take a listen to the extravagant soundscape of the BMW Vision M Next here.
